Oscars 2017: What Went Wrong in That La La Land-Moonlight Mixup

When Faye Dunaway erroneously declared La La Land the best picture winner over Moonlight at Sunday night’s Academy Awards, the crew backstage was the first to realize her mistake.

“Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!” a stage manager began whispering as the La La Land team took the stage to accept the night’s final award. “They read the wrong envelope.”

By the time Dunaway’s co-presenter, Warren Beatty, and the Moonlight team exited the stage, the world knew.

Nearly three hours after the debacle, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, the accounting firm that tallies the Oscar votes, issued an apology, which was sent out by the Academy.

“We sincerely apologize to Moonlight, La La Land, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and the Oscar viewers for the error that was made during the award announcement for best picture,” the announcement said. “The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected. We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred. We appreciate the grace with which the nominees, the Academy, and Jimmy Kimmel handled the situation.”

VIDEO: Dissecting What You Didn’t Hear About The Oscar Mishap

In the immediate moments after the error as he existed the stage, Beatty wasn’t pleased.

Meanwhile, Oscars producer Jennifer Todd conferred with a crew member: “But how did they both read the wrong thing?”

During the telecast, Beatty had returned to the stage to explain that he had mistakenly read from the second of two envelopes announcing Emma Stone’s best actress win, before handing the erroneous envelope over to Dunaway. Pricewaterhouse Coopers prints two announcements per category for security reasons. Stone said she still had hers in hand as the scene unfolded.

“I think everyone’s in a state of confusion still,” she told press backstage, according to People. “Excitement but confusion. I think everyone is just so excited for Moonlight. It’s such an incredible film.”

“I don’t know what just happened,” Kimmel said, as he exited the stage. “I should probably find out, because people are gonna be asking.”

Speaking to reporters backstage, Jenkins said that he and his Moonlight teammates were given “no explanation”—but that he did see the infamous wrong card. “Things just happen,” Jenkins said. “I will say, I saw two cards. And so, things just happen. I wanted to see the card, to see the card. Warren refused to show the card to anybody before he showed it to me. And so he did. He came upstairs and he walked over to me, and he showed the card. And everybody was asking, ‘Can I see the card’? And he’s like, ‘no, Barry Jenkins has to see the card, I need him to know.’ And he showed it to me. I felt better about what happened.”

Later in the evening, Academy Awards producer Mike DeLuca echoed his bafflement. “I’m gonna leave it to the Academy to comment,” he told Vanity Fair while waiting for an elevator. “I still don’t know what happened.”

Dunaway, seemingly unfazed, was snacking on cashews backstage in the first moments after the best picture announcement.

After the show, at the Governor’s Ball, Dunaway told The Hollywood Reporter she wouldn’t be commenting on the matter. Beatty, meanwhile, had this to say to the L.A. Times: “I looked down at the card and thought, this is very strange, because it says best actress. Maybe there was a misprint. I don’t know what happened. And that’s all I have I have to say on the subject.”